While some people might not have considered me very social, I had more friends than I could count on one hand. And that wasn't counting animals. That became a lot harder to count, especially since I wasn't even sure how many of Zeb's squirrels I liked.

Almost everyone I knew happened to have powers in some way, as I hadn't had much inclination to seek out mundane people. For me, it was still stranger that powers weren't the norm, though I at least intellectually understood it. But even with the much higher rates that New Bay had, most people were powerless.

Most of my time outside of work would have been spent on work-adjacent things, if not for my friends dragging me around to various activities. They were generally fine, but not things I would seek out on my own.

Today, we were simply walking around various neighborhoods, starting our meetup at Corner Coffee. It was me, Izzy, and two friends from work. Maks, also known as Shockfire, plus Jo who went by Shockwave. There was a reason they weren't on a team together… and it was that their powers weren't complementary. But the names would have been confusing too.

"I'm really not sure you should have coffee," I commented to Jo.

They looked at me and rolled their eyes. "I'm fine. You should worry about yourself."

I shrugged. "I'm not the one addicted to caffeine and speed."

"... It sounds way worse when you say it like that," Jo complained.

Izzy piped up, "So what were the plans for today?"

"Walk around," Maks commented. "There are some mayoral candidates in the park giving speeches. We could go check that out."

I thought about that. "Aren't the elections like… forever away?" I asked.

"Yeah, welcome to the four year campaign cycle," he shrugged.

"... Can I even vote?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes. "You haven't been? You really should. Though, I suppose I'd rather everyone be informed first."

"I've only had like two chances," I pointed out. "And I might not have been a citizen for one of them." I got my papers… eh, somewhere in there. My temporary status was right away, of course. The rest was still expedited.

"I voted locally," Izzy said.

"You should look into it," Maks said. "There's a few important things. Like whether or not to restrict super mercenary activities."

"They are restricted," I pointed out. Since we weren't in uniform, that was the right way to say it. "I don't see how anyone is for that, though. Wouldn't villains just take over the city?" Unless that was a villain plot. It could be.

"Obviously they would suggest more heroes and harsher punishments for villains," he commented.

"I can't say I disagree with the latter. What about heroes that turn villain?"

"That's easy," Jo said. "They'd say that more mercenaries turn villain."

"Oh. Is that true?"

"Uh, technically," Jo admitted. "But it's missing an important detail. Our numbers are much greater, so it's actually a smaller proportion."

"Cool. Let me know who lies about statistics and I'll vote against them."

"That's everyone," they commented. "At least a little."

"We should vote for Madame Multitude." I thought she would be good at it.

"She can't run," Izzy said.

"... Why not?"

"Her powers."

"People with powers can't run?" I was about to be rationally angry about that.

"Only certain kinds," Izzy commented. "I'm not sure how splitters ended up on that list, though."

Maks had the answer for that. "She technically could. But she wouldn't be able to use her powers, so it would defeat the main purpose. Otherwise, she's just a nice old woman."

"But why?" I asked.

"People like to keep tabs on their elected leaders, I suppose," Maks shrugged.

But wouldn't they do all their shady backroom deals in shady backrooms? So people wouldn't even know if they were using powers anyway. Unless they were physically restricted, but I'm sure there were ways around things like that.

I turned my head to follow a woman we were passing by, watching her as she scurried along.

"She your type or something?" Jo asked.

"Powers," Izzy said before I could respond.

I nodded. "Her powers are weird."

"Hmm. I didn't feel anything," Jo admitted. "Maks?"

"They weren't energy related, were they? I'm pretty limited in my sensory capabilities."

"Couldn't really tell," Izzy admitted. "She felt… spooky?"

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"Something like that," I agreed. "Like spirits and deep power and…" I waved my hands vaguely. "Other stuff." I couldn't quite say what it was. She didn't seem to have been active at the time, and I wasn't willing to activate my abilities to look deeper.

"Okay. You think she's a problem?" Jo asked.

"No, just curious," I said.

"Then let's grab ice cream." They pointed towards a cart in a nearby park.

"Do you really need coffee and sugar?" I asked.

Jo looked at me like I was crazy. "I don't even have coffee anymore."

A fair point. Izzy still had probably half a cup. Then again, the normal size was effectively eight times as big for her. They had Martian size, but Izzy rarely got small portions of anything.

I had tried coffee a number of times, and now I just got random other drinks. Some of the chocolate ones were alright.

We grabbed ice cream. Jo got more than all of us put together. I wondered how long it would take them to burn those calories. Maybe a few minutes of active power usage? Clearly they weren't going to get fat, and it was the job of the Brigade's nutrition specialist to warn Jo about diets consisting solely of sugar and fat.

"... You look way more relaxed," Maks commented. "You were always so tense before."

"Really?" Jo asked. "He was always so chill at work."

"I meant when hanging out," Maks explained.

I had an answer for that one. "There are more orcs now."

Izzy looked up at me incredulously. "Don't half of them want to kill you?" I shrugged. "Right. Nevermind."

"I just didn't like having the Disguise spell on all the time."

"Totally get it," Jo said.

"Oh. Sorry about that," Maks apologized. "We didn't know it bothered you."

"I didn't mention it." I hadn't wanted to give away people's civilian identities, so I'd made the choice myself. But all that had been a long time ago and I'd been to so much therapy.

It was nice to just do normal civilian stuff. I hadn't had a lot of spare money or friends back in Mossley and I was the type that was normally cooped up inside a tower to begin with. I'd only just gotten used to being normal on Earth.

No interactions with supers except the random ones we walked by. It wasn't really that many people, but there were a few groups on patrol and some people in civilian garb. I probably shouldn't try to figure out what they did, but I couldn't help but pay attention.

Jo challenged us to a race across the park while they still had a full two scoops of ice cream. It seemed like the only chance we would have to win, so I accepted.

Izzy was always up for a race. Maks had no reason to refuse, so soon all of us were lined up along a certain path, waiting for the perfect moment.

The ice cream had been a ploy. Not only did Jo finish off both scoops two steps into the race, but the food sat heavily in the bellies of the rest of us. Or at least, I presumed so. My long strides carried me to a swift start, but I wasn't able to pull ahead of the pack. It wasn't long before Izzy and Jo pulled ahead. Izzy began leaping over planters to get to the goal faster, and Jo took that as an excuse to go off course too.

The two of them were using powers. I considered whether I could make Haste look natural. Maybe if it was just a tiny amount, like they were using. Izzy's behavior was excused because her legs were short. Jo was just too competitive to let anyone pass.

By the time I made a decision it was too late, so it was up to Maks and I to fight for third. My longer legs very much helped. Neither of us neglected training so there wasn't much more to say for that. We caught up to the other two, taking the long route along the paths. I thought our times would have been pretty respectable normally.

Jo looked a bit disappointed they couldn't go all out, but it wasn't like any of us would have been a challenge regardless. Not even Izzy with Haste. Maybe if I slowed Jo too… or if they competed in an obstacle course that wasn't just running.

"Looks like you lost. That means you're paying for the next round of ice cream!" Jo declared.

"Hm," I frowned.

"Don't say you didn't agree to that! There have to be consequences for any competition," Jo nodded seriously. "And I know your salary can cover it."

"She's back," I commented.

"That woman from before?" Maks asked.

Izzy shook her head. "That's not weird. She might just live around here."

Perhaps that was so in most circumstances, but this time she was trying to hide her power. "We should go check it out, just in case."

"I can get over there in an instant," Jo said.

"So could I." I could teleportation was faster, after all. Dimension Door was covered by Advanced Spatial Magic, so it should have been pretty efficient. "But we should walk. Or jog."

We jogged. We weren't on duty, but we were still curious. Well, Izzy wasn't part of the Brigade to begin with so that was all.

We made pretty good time. We hadn't gone that far to begin with, just strolling around eating our ice cream.

"Hmm." I looked at the ice cream stand. She was… inside of it? "Not quite sure what's going on there."

"Something's building up," Maks warned. "Careful!"

I cast Force Armor on the cart owner a few moments before ghosts exploded out of it. The woman was still thrown backwards, but that was probably better than what would have happened. And inside the wreckage was…

"I guess she can turn into a mouse," I commented.

Both Jo and Maks gave me a look. "It's for sure just one of the super mice," Jo said.

"Haven't you already seen them?" Maks asked.

"Cute," Izzy commented.

I wasn't sure that was true, with its eyes full of soulfire and ghosts swirling around. The mouse shaped figure that nobody could completely confirm wasn't a transformed woman floated in the air, rising as the power swirled.

"It's building up again," Maks warned. "It's going to burst again, I think."

He was actually better at that than me. I could have estimated it would be a similar result, but in this particular thing he had me beat.

People were probably watching. That was why I was glad Sophia forced me to learn a new spell. I still didn't want to be seen doing it mostly just to not cause trouble for the people around us. I tried to force the manifestation to occur further from myself as I cast Sleep. Puffy clouds appeared for a moment… and more ghosts exploded everywhere. Fortunately, nobody was nearby so they mostly blasted bricks and shrivelled plants and trees.

"Uh, did that not work?" I frowned. But I could still feel the source… dimmed as it was. The mouse had fallen back into the destroyed remains of the cart. Now how to scoop it up without being seen? Maybe I could…

It was possible I used an excessive amount of mana for what I wanted, but ultimately I chose the maximum amount possible for 'Advanced' magic. 13 points. I held out my hand, focusing on minimizing magical phenomena. And then? I had a sleeping mouse cupped in my hands.

A perfect success, if I did say so myself. If only we hadn't run into that lady on the way out of the park.

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